13-14.Nahia

THE SNAKE

Page semi-protected

Snakes Temporal range: Early Cretaceous – Recent, 112–0Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleogene|Pg]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neogene|N]]
Coast garter snake, Thamnophis elegans terrestris
Scientific classification e
Suborder:	Serpentes Linnaeus, 1758
Subgroups
Alethinophidia – Nopcsa, 1923 Scolecophidia – Cope, 1864
Approximate world distribution of snakes, all species

Snakes are elongated, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with many more joints than their lizard ancestors, enabling them to swallow prey much larger than their heads with their highly mobile jaws